Meet jessica Garcia | Audio engineer and photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with jessica Garcia and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi jessica, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Always loved music and photography.
I would always listen to my parent’s vinyls and 8 tracks . Growing up in the 90’s there was a wide variety of music and concerts . I was in garage bands and always in talent shows throughout middle school and high school. I was not very good in being organized in a band but I always wanted to pursue music as a career. Had the flair for photography to because looking at the back of an album or cds of the bands was really awesome and it made listening to an music better that was my vision.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Being a live sound engineer WOW! My first two years have been crazy. I jumped into this blindly. The End opened up April of 2022 so post pandemic you know people were venturing out alot. When my friend open the venue up he asked me, you want to run sound ? At first I said no , I was going to be the venue photographer lol. I was a studio tech and a producer for an indie recording studio 360 years prior ,but I had no background in live sound. I did do the occasional D.I.Y punk or back yard shows on a smaller system so that was it . I got thrown in with the sharks first couple of shows and I thought I was only going to last two weeks doing live sound it was a lot. My studio knowledge came back and I love the rush and bringing life to the music. I had worked alongside with a couple of very talented local live sound guys and they were showing me and teaching things and I caught on quick . The bug bit me and I was hooked.
The End grew and got popular over 2022 year we went from having small local shows to big acts and touring bands coming through. 2023 my friend open The Compound a bigger space.
The one challenge I had to overcome is the fear of messing up and not being good enough. I would have these panic attacks before a big show, thinking if a speaker was going to blow or could they hear themselves in the floor monitor lol ,was the vocals not loud enough or is the band going to be mad at me ?
Little stuff like that would make me worry and soon after the show was done the band would come up to me saying good job… I’m like thank goodness! lol . It’s been great, the best career move I ever did.
Audio engineering is an art and you are always learning you never stop.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Differently where I work at The End. We have some crazy shows and venders. East end Houston is getting popular there are a lot of great venues out there and different dive bars . If I can name a few places Blackmagic social club, Trip six, White Swan. There are a lot of D.I.Y shows also. I have buddy who runs a awesome tattoo shop on the Southwest side of town Rampage Tattoos he also throws shows in his shop.
I not much into bars but I’m vegan differently hit up some of the spots around town.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
This one brings tears to my eyes I want to give a shoutout to my late mother (who always pushed me) and to the abundance of friends who I’m so grateful and thankful for over the past many years who have encourage me, help me, been there and never said no if I had a great idea. If I named everyone it’s going to be a long list , they know who they are and much love. I’m very blessed. I want to give a big shout out to my crew at The End venue in Houston Texas
(Owner) John Hale, Tango Gonzales, Gaby Perales, Jessica Koppert, Joey Molina , Jesus Mora, David Hernandez, Alexis Rodriguez, Francisco Barbosa.
These are the group of friends I work very hard with day in out running a venue. Second family right there.

Website: https://www.theendhtx.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/jessica_g_81

Youtube: @jessicaGarcia_Project_videos

Image Credits
photography by : Jessica Garcia and Mario Cerda